Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling

The Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling degree is designed to meet state requirements for licensure as mental health counselors in the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The key content areas include professional identity, social and cultural diversity, human growth and development, helping relationships, career development, group work, assessment, diagnosis, research, program evaluation, and evidence-based counseling, prevention, and intervention skills.

Students will have opportunities to learn through a variety of teaching methodologies including class discussions, role-playing, small group work, case-study analyses, and classroom simulations. Students will apply this knowledge in supervised clinical settings.

Distinct Curricular Themes

Mental health counseling: A curriculum that exceeds national and state standards by requiring core coursework in addiction counseling, psychopharmacology, family counseling, and wellness counseling, with emphasis on ethical professional practice.

Bio-psych-social: This program will provide training emphasis on psycho-diagnostics, psychometrics, and psycho-pharmaceutical knowledge and clinical skill sets applicable across the life span and sensitive to cultural differences.

Science-practitioner: A model that emphasizes not only evidenced-based clinical practices, but also data-driven decision making where trained mental health counselors embrace a research orientation and seek to maintain a clinical relevance in their research (i.e., science informs practice and practice informs science).

Multicultural: A multicultural infusion encouraging a counselor identity that seeks an appreciation of diversity and human growth in context with social dynamics, while also advocating for community justice and equity.

Complementary health: A perspective that recognizes the interplay of mind-body medicine within an emphasis on personal wellness where mental health counselors are trained to intervene for initial symptom relief as well as lifestyle patterns for increased well-being and longevity.

Certificate of advanced training: Each graduate in a select specialty area of her/his choice can receive a certificate of advanced training. Those choices include certificates in: addiction counseling, complementary health and wellness counseling, and child and adolescent counseling.